The dairy operations have several support blocks growing maize, grazing heifers and lambs. <\/p>\n
Setting up a sheep dairy operation appealed to McPherson, and he said the numbers stacked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d been talking about diversifying and considering more sustainable options for our farming business, and I felt that it was something different from the other things we were doing that I could grow into a good business and career.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sheep dairy<\/p>\n
In 2020, Spring Sheep Milk\u2019s supply manager (now chief executive), Thomas MacDonald, came out to assess the farm for suitability. <\/p>\n
The farm suited the Spring Sheep business model, and the family business signed a contract with them. <\/p>\n
Work started in December 2020 and continued to August 1, 2021, when the first 650 Zealandia sheep arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had an old decommissioned 16 ASHB shed already, plus land for the 60-hectare sheep dairy platform and lamb rearing sheds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old dairy shed was gutted and made into a 42 ASHB for sheep, with a rapid exit system. <\/p>\n
\u201cSheep and lambs especially need fencing with more wires and battens, so we fenced in a central straight race with paddocks running either side for easy access to the dairy shed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two polytunnel lamb rearing sheds were put up for lambing season.<\/p>\n
Day-to-day operations<\/p>\n
In the first season, McPherson ended up milking on his own, as they were a staff member down, but said it was pretty straightforward and each milking took around an hour.<\/p>\n
In the 2022 season, they milked 800 sheep, 900 were milked in 2023, 1000 in 2024 and 1200 in 2025, with McPherson as manager and three full-time staff plus part-timers over lambing times.<\/p>\n
The sheep have a grass-based diet, and that is always the priority for the rather picky Zealandia sheep, which like the best leaf tips.<\/p>\n
Ryan McPherson ensured the infrastructure for the new sheep dairy made bringing the sheep in easy for both himself and the sheep. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n
\u201cGrazer cows follow through behind the sheep and reset the paddocks, and help reduce worm burdens in both animals,\u201d McPherson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also have in-shed feeding of a canola meal pellet for extra protein and minerals. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe grow around 16 hectares of chicory for the sheep over summer. <\/p>\n
\u201cDuring winter and early lambing, I use seven hectares of maize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last winter, 1500 sheep were wintered, but only 1200 were milked. <\/p>\n
The flock is sheared twice a year, and McPherson uses Jack Fagan\u2019s gang.<\/p>\n
With a 220% lambing rate in the 2024\/25 season, most ewes are having twins or triplets. <\/p>\n
All lambs spend four days with their mum and then five weeks in the rearing shed once trained to use adlib feeders.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpring Sheep genetics are protected, so all male lambs are band castrated and given away for free,\u201d McPherson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany go to \u2018mow\u2019 lifestyle blocks, some become pets and others are reared for meat. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur females are our replacements, but excess may be reared for meat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zealandia milking sheep enjoy the best grass tips. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n
Spring Sheep collect and process all milk and supply the genetics for mating. <\/p>\n
Zealandia rams are used for mating, and farmers can pick their rams.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast season, we averaged 62 kg\/Ms per ewe, which is towards the higher end of production, and we are on track for this figure in the 2025\/26 season.\u201d<\/p>\n
McPherson is looking forward to working with Spring Sheep on his flock\u2019s genetics over the next few seasons, with a view to averaging 75 kg\/Ms per ewe and milking 1500 sheep.<\/p>\n
Keeping it green<\/p>\n
McPherson has put in measures to lower the sheep operation\u2019s carbon footprint. <\/p>\n
He said sheep were a more sustainable farming option; there was less pugging in the paddocks and less urine volume, reducing leaching issues.<\/p>\n
The milking shed has solar panels, which provide power for chilling milk or running the shed in the afternoon. <\/p>\n
Excess power goes into the grid, and the farm is paid for it. <\/p>\n
An electric farm bike is effectively reducing fuel consumption.<\/p>\n
Lowering the farm\u2019s carbon footprint will be an ongoing project for this sheep business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dairy operations have several support blocks growing maize, grazing heifers and lambs. Setting up a sheep dairy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,9218,52123,49395,138,2046,40570,81317,7224,246,195744,1044,195745,111,139,69,27504,5823,26108,5128,23419,180,12969,1240,6921,643,5424,3694,8238,1524,13558,102,2173],"class_list":{"0":"post-375172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-and","9":"tag-before","10":"tag-belt","11":"tag-boosts","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-career","14":"tag-considering","15":"tag-covid19","16":"tag-dairy","17":"tag-finance","18":"tag-majoring","19":"tag-management","20":"tag-mcpherson","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-output","25":"tag-passion","26":"tag-plus","27":"tag-ryan","28":"tag-seriously","29":"tag-shares","30":"tag-sheep","31":"tag-south","32":"tag-spring","33":"tag-stocks","34":"tag-street","35":"tag-sustainability","36":"tag-under","37":"tag-waikato","38":"tag-wall","39":"tag-with","40":"tag-york"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}